Seau had a remarkable 20-year career with the NFL, playing for three teams–San Diego, Miami, and New England–and going to the Pro-Bowl a dozen times. He was inducted into the Chargers’ Hall Of Fame in 2011 at just 42 years old.

Seau has three children with his ex-wife, and all four of them received a text from him yesterday that said simply, “I love you”, but none of them suspected anything was amiss or that he was in emotional distress. Details are still emerging and police are at Seau’s home, where his family has just arrived. A reporter from TMZ is on the scene and says that his mother is understandably distraught and had to be physically helped away by police.

Seau’s mother said during the press conference that she “doesn’t understand who would do this to my son”, leading the media to believe she thinks it was not a suicide. The police officer who led the press conference said they found a handgun beside Seau when they arrived and attempted to revive him but were unsuccessful. They were called to Seau’s home by his girlfriend, but reporters on the scene can’t get an answer from officials about her whereabouts now.

TMZ is streaming a police news conference about the athlete’s death live on their site at this hour.